The University of the West Indies (The UWI) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Francis Severin as Interim Principal of its Open Campus effective August 1, 2021. The appointment was approved at the Annual Business Meeting of the University Council held on Friday, April 30, 2021, via Zoom.
The current Principal, Dr. Luz Longsworth will retire on July 31 this year after serving for six years.
Dr. Severin, a national of Dominica, has had a long and distinguished career with The UWI. He is currently the Deputy Principal of the Open Campus, a position he has held since August 1, 2020.
Prior to being the Deputy Principal, he served as Director of Open Campus Country Sites (OCCS) from October 2013, having acted for long intervals in that post prior to that date.
He served the UWI part-time as a local Tutor in The UWI Distance Education (UWIDEC) Programme, School of Continuing Studies (SCS), in Dominica from 1994 to 1998, facilitating the courses: Introduction to Caribbean History for Law and Social Sciences and Introduction to Sociology of the Caribbean.
On January 1, 1999, he was appointed to his first full-time role in The UWI as Programme Officer in the Office of Administration and Special Initiatives (OASIs), headed by Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Marlene Hamilton, who was the Mona Campus’s first female Deputy Principal and the first woman ever to be appointed as PVC at The UWI. OASIs was a Centre Unit in the Vice Chancellery, headquartered then on the Mona Campus in Kingston, Jamaica.
In August 2005, Dr. Severin returned to Dominica to take up the post of Resident Tutor and Head, School of Continuing Studies. While in that post he participated in the historical transition from the former entities that comprised the Board for Non-Campus Countries and Distance Education (NCC’s & DE) to the Open Campus.
Dr. Severin graduated from The UWI, Cave Hill Campus in 1991 with a Bachelor’s degree in History and Social Studies with Education. He went on to complete his postgraduate studies at The UWI Mona Campus: in 1998 with the MSc in Sociology specializing in Social Policy and Administration, followed by a Ph.D. in Education, in 2006.
Dr. Severin has served on numerous Campus and University boards and committees, including University Council; University Appointments Committee; Board for Undergraduate Studies (BUS); Board for Graduate Studies and Research (BGSR); Finance and General Purposes Committee (F&GPC); Open Campus Academic Board; Senate Committee on Ordinances and Regulations (SCOR); Campus Evaluations & Promotions Committee (EPC); Campus Appointments Committee (CAC); University and Campus ICT Steering Committees; University Executive Management Team; and the University Senate and Library Evaluations and Promotions Committee. Dr. Severin was the Chair of the Committee of Deans in the academic year 2019-2020 and has been the Open Campus’ Public Orator since 2010.